2nd Hard Drive problem

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

I have 2 hard drives, one is a 40GB which contains the OS, and the other is a 500GB and contains my documents which weigh a heavy 177GB. Now the problem is, when I try to access my documents and other resources on the 500GB disk, the system locks up as the hard drive keeps spinning down and instantly powering up again. It does this for about 3 mins and then the screen goes blank. It's a "SATA II Samsung HD501LJ".
Please HELP!!! I don't have a backup drive so I cannot back up my documents!

 

[Madxgraphics]

Do you get any error messages when this happens..??

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

No, it just locks up. This means no response to mouse and screen then goes blank. When the screen goes blank, the hard drive stays on and stops shutting down. Disk activity light goes out.

 

[Madxgraphics]

Have you tried installing it in another PC as a secondary drive..? Try this and see what happens...Also start your computer up in safe mode and see if you have the same problem then..

 

[JaLing]

Can you please look in Event viewer and list the errors that are present.... thx.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Hard drive faulty proved!

What can I do? after testing the hard drive in another fully working computer and it still cuts out! What can I do now?! I don't have a drive big enough to back up my documents!

 

[Madxgraphics]

What can I do? after testing the hard drive in another fully working computer and it still cuts out! What can I do now?! I don't have a drive big enough to back up my documents!

You could always go buy a new one, PC World do external drives for as little as £60 or do a little looking around on the net and see what else you can find..maplins also do cheap drives...

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

PC Word are 100% genuine ripoffs. External drives suck too. My only option is to find a cheap (Under £50) INTERNAL 500GB SATA II Hard drive which isn't a Samsung.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

UPDATE*** Disk now makes noticible clicking noises when the drive powers down and powers back up again.

 

[Madxgraphics]

PC Word are 100% genuine ripoffs. External drives suck too. My only option is to find a cheap (Under £50) INTERNAL 500GB SATA II Hard drive which isn't a Samsung.

Probably best to keep remarks like that to yourself..As for external HDD's sucking, thats a matter of opinion, and ifyou know what yer only option is, then why ask for help when you know the answer..??

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Probably best to keep remarks like that to yourself..As for external HDD's sucking, thats a matter of opinion, and ifyou know what yer only option is, then why ask for help when you know the answer..??

What I would appreciate help on is finding a 500GB internal SATA II drive NOT SAMSUNG under £50.

 

[Madxgraphics]

i'll have a look round and see what I can come up with

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Are we sure this hard drive is failing then? It doesn't always power down and back up, it's only when accessing documents. Running programs installed on the drive is fine as to is opening documents.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

I'm beginning to think that the click sound when it powers off and on is a small relay opening and closing so the electronics in the drive might be broke, as it does it in another PC i tested it on.

 

[JaLing]

NOTE - Alot of Mainboards don't fully support 3Gb/s and so the drive may need to be updated to use 1.5Gb/s


Download SSpeed_iso.zip from here;

http://www.samsung.com/global/busi [...] orderNum=2

(You will need to burn it to CD)

It will test the drive for compliancy with your computer and give you the option to make it 1.5Gb/s.

Hope it helps you.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

NOTE - Alot of Mainboards don't fully support 3Gb/s and so the drive may need to be updated to use 1.5Gb/s


Download SSpeed_iso.zip from here;

http://www.samsung.com/global/busi [...] orderNum=2

(You will need to burn it to CD)

It will test the drive for compliancy with your computer and give you the option to make it 1.5Gb/s.

Hope it helps you.

My motherboard fully supports 3GB SATA after looking on the box.
Anyway, turns out the problem were A LOT of bad sectors, CHKDSK found thousands (AND I MEAN THOUSANDS ) of errors and back sectors and indexes. After disk check was complete, the disk is back to normal now. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Oh no PROBLEM AGAIN!!!!!

Starting to do it randomly-occasionally.
I really don't want to buy a new drive! What can I do?

 

[Adywebb]

Your drive is on its way out - there is no alternative apart from getting a new one...how long have you had it as it may still be under warranty?


I suggest you disconnect it immediately and stop powering it up, then go get another and try to copy them over before it goes completely.

 

[Abarbarian]

Its a bit old fashioned but try pen and paper.

 

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Adywebb - I've only had it for a year!!!! I can't believe that it is breaking already, JUST AS THE WARRENTY EXPIRED!!!!!